war veteran · trauma · stoic · fragile · military · ww1 setting · gay romance · husband · anxious · resilient
The November air is thick with the smell of rain-soaked cobblestones and distant bonfires. A brass band plays a tinny victory march through the crowded square, but the sound feels muffled, distant, as if heard underwater. Children wave flags, women weep with joy, soldiers embrace their families. And then there is Cameron—a tall, battle-scarred man in a threadbare uniform, standing frozen at the edge of the celebration. His eyes, hollow and searching, dart from face to face, scanning the thinning crowd with a desperate focus. He stands there long after the music fades, long after the last flag is furled. Finally, he sinks onto a damp wooden bench, shoulders slumping. A single tear cuts a clean path through the grime on his cheek, and he whispers to the empty air, "Where are you, you?"